Gummi is the German for rubber (i.e. the substance).
As in US English, it can mean condom.
Der Radiergummi means literally "rubbing out rubber/eraser".
It sounds like the teacher was teaching the class US English.

[quote=asdfasdf;107309]Give it 200 years, the whole world will be speaking one fairly common language anyway, quote]

In US it will be Spanish. I was last year in Colorado, I heard more
Spanish than English. And I had surprises in the public transport in
Denver: all comments and informations for public transport were
in English and separately in Spanish.

And in the EU in 200 years ?the EU wants that kids in each EU country
learn at least two foreign languages from beginning. That means:

No common language in Europe.

I have a colleague at work from Hannover. She speaks lovely clear German .

However, she uses many words that are not generally used in High German in Southern Germany or Switzerland. (e.g Obst instead of Frucht = fruit. Urlaub instead of Ferien = holiday).

In most languages there is more than one way to say the same thing and each is equally correct. Swiss and Austrian High German variations are officially recognised in the Duden.

If you want to enjoy your time in Switzerland I would recommend that you take the time to learn the local way of saying things and try to pick up a few Swiss German words. Otherwise people will assume you're the archetypal "Fischkopp", which I'm sure you are not.

Thank you for an excellent post btw.

I've got a German/Schwäbisch dictionary and many of the pronunciations look very similar to Swiss German. I'm off to Stuttgart in a few weeks and will try it out .

Obst/Frucht was one of my first mistakes here.

You learn smething new every day

Fischkopf/Fischkopp

And I now know there's a "Weißwurst-Äquator" 100 km north of Munich.

[quote=chaot;107332] People around the world are more inter-connected now than they have ever been, assuming this continues I think it is inevitable to move towards a more common language, even if it does become a "Latinish" language in that it is no one's mother tongue, but everyone uses it to speak to more general audiences.

>Give it 200 years, the whole world will be speaking one
fairly common language anyway

Perhaps two thirds will be able to use my favourite
global language, called "Broken English",
as a common lingua franca.

But they will never switch to English as a first language.
The cultural inertia and desire for identity is too great.

Even in a situation of invasion, it takes hundreds of years
to take on the language of the conqueror, it may never happen
(The English were ruled by French for a few centuries
but this led only to the absorption of new words into
a Germanic language!)

By the way, "lingua franca" was a "global language",
in the middle ages, a mix of French Spanish Italian Arabic
and other languages spoken around the Mediterraneum,
for the purpose of commerce. In the time of Jesus, the
common languages were Greek and Latin - the latter still
survives in current use in almost every city on Earth!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca

At about the Renaissance time, Italian began to dominate in
Europe, it still does in some art areas. Then came French,
the "language of diplomacy" and still official in more countries
than English is. Later German was a candidate especially
in science and industry.

I chose German rather than Russian for my reading
knowledge, required for a degree in chemistry.
In those cold war days, they said the optimists
would learn Russian, the pessimists Chinese!

The most prominent proponent of "Global English" is
David Crystal, author of 40 books on languages including
Language Death, English as a Global Language, and
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English language.
"As we see English spreading, we see it beginning to reflect
local cultural practices. When people adopt English they
immediately adapt it. No-one 'owns' English now. What
happens to it is on the shoulders of all of us."
"Three-quarters of the world's population are naturally bilingual.
It's perfectly possible to maintain the role of a standard language
as a lingua franca and at the same time maintain local languages -
the standard guarantees intelligibility; the local expresses identity."

From http://wordsmith.org/chat/dc.html
See also http://www.crystalreference.com/Davi...al/english.htm

So here in Switzerland we can enjoy the best of this process -
learning a common spoken language, and several major world
languages - which have their own dialect variations - plus being
able to speak English. Don't be discouraged, languages can be
learned, more or less, at any age (even Swiss German).

I learned a good trick today - when you pronounce the l sound,
the English way has the tongue touching behind the upper teeth.
Try it with the tongue touching the top of the mouth! It may
help you pronounce German words - like "gel" which in Swiss German
is the more open "gau" (from es gilt, it's true.)

Graham

Today I spoke with a coworker here in Brussels who is from the French part of Switzerland. He told me the following;

1) Swiss Germans do not like High German, they prefer to speak in English with a Native German (not in business, of course, but private).

2) in the French part, on the other hand, they do not like Swiss German,


Who can you confirm this ? Is this right ?

I don't know about native Germans but I do know that some of the Swiss-German people I work with would rather speak to me in English than High German.

For number 2 that was my experience when I lived in the French part of Switzerland. The reverse is also true (in my experience).

>He told me the following;
>1) Swiss Germans do not like High German, they prefer to speak in English
> with a Native German (not in business, of course, but private).
>2) in the French part, on the other hand, they do not like Swiss German,
>Who can confirm this ? Is this right ?

yes this is often true, but there are several different reasons:
1. At the lower educational levels (schooling up to 16)
and for immigrants, everyone is more comfortable with the spoken
language, they have not been able to deepen knowledge of standard German. Americans make fun of "southerners" with their drawl or cajun
words, but it is not fair to blame someone for what he cannot help.

2 This gives a natural inferiority complex against German speakers,
especially since those here who are tourists or professionals
have generally a good backing of High German. They speak it easily
and too quickly. Using Swiss German is here a defence mechanism.

3 Germans of a similar social class or lower education level
do not come to Switzerland so much! So you don't hear much
Schwabish or Bayerish. Wait until the Euro 08 and there will be fights.
Also with the English hooligans, the same observation applies.

4. At higher educational levels, the Swiss can switch to High German.

However, there are many different words (Swiss Besammlung for
German Versammlung, Aufzug for Fahrstuhl, Velo for Fahrrad, etc)
The result is that the Swiss assume the German are correct
and they are again at a disadvantage - especially if the German
simply assumes that his version is the standard one.
The same with English speakers who continue to use unusual words
(not in the most common 10000) or idiom while disregarding the listener.

5. Since Swiss students have to put a lot of effort into learning
the three official languages plus English, they are weaker in each
one than native speakers. (True with my children.)

6. There is also a hangover from the Second World War.
Using Swiss German is an expression of identity and independence.

7. There is the big brother feeling, the same as Canadians to U.S.
and Kiwis to Aussies. As in commonwealth countries, it takes
decades of building confidence, plus exceptional people, to
build a native language literature.

As for the Swiss French speakers, they do not like to speak
Swiss German, for a different reason.
1. They have grown up learning High German at school
2. Except with the occasional school exchange and
family movement, they do not learn to use Swiss German
in the vernacular (common use)
3. By the time of military service it is too late.

So they are much more comfortable in High German.

Note that when love happens across a language border,
the languages do not matter! And children arising from
this have every advantage.

My experience in countless meetings in business, is that a
moderator will ask me (a native English speaker) if I would prefer
High German or if we can conduct the meeting in Swiss German.
He does not ask the Swiss French speakers!

I learned my German here in Berne, and can understand
Swiss German well enough. But I say High German, please,
if there are Swiss French or Italian speakers in the room.
Often they thank me for it!

In conclusion, nothing is a simple dislike or preference.
There is an psychology involved and it is not too hard to figure out.
A desire to communicate in a particular conversation
means that these factors are discounted.

Hope this makes it clearer
Graham

I'm finding this discussion rather disparaging, I'm now trying to learn High German, but it sounds like unless I push on for a year after learning High German to learn Swiss German I'll be just as well off with only English.

Hmm - I somehow can't picture Lizzie speaking Scouse.

After working 5 years in Chester/Liverpool, I still had problems understanding Scouse, in particular spoken by women.

I have the same thought.
And as soon as I learn some Swiss German, they'll just speak faster and with more dialect...

I can understand a lot of Swiss German, but in my early days here I got used to "tuning out" to it, and still find myself doing that.

I recently bought the English version of Hoi - your Swiss German survival guide, but am finding the phonetics used hard to get into, and am thinking of buying the German equivalent Hoi Zäme - Schweizerdeutsch leicht gemacht

I think it's possible to learn the two (SG & HG) concurrently, depending on the circles you move in.

I moved to St Gallen to attend school, and while the classes were conducted mostly in High German, as soon as we left the classroom all exchanges were conducted in Dialekt. I made every effort to learn to communicate with my peers in their mothertongue, and it was always appreciated. Everyone I met was chuffed when I spoke SG, which made learning easier as more people were prepared to invest their time patiently helping me learn. I always find people are more likely to help you if they see you making an effort.

A few years after I moved back to Australia, I was staying in a YHA while on holidays. I heard some guys speaking in SG and called out to them. We chatted for a few minutes, after which one of the boys said "You're from [name of village in Rheintal] aren't you? I'd know that Dialekt anywhere!!" We all had a good laugh! All my efforts seemed worth it when a native speaker picked the village where I had learned to speak Dialekt!
Honestly folks, make the effort to learn both. Out of respect for your friends and colleagues, learn to converse with them in their mothertongue. I don't think your efforts will be in vain...

one sentence is interesting

the author confirms that Swiss German is no official language
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Obwohl das Schweizerdeutsche keine offizielle Sprache ist – als Sprache weder standardisiert noch in formellen Dokumenten geschrieben – sind die Schweizer aller verschiedener Bildungs- und sozialen Schichten sehr stolz auf ihre Sprache. Das Schweizerdeutsche ist einer der wichtigen Grundpfeiler des schweizerischen Nationalbewusstseins

mark, great u speek japanise, oh great. yokatta . ooen surukaraaa gambattekudasaii!

Would you mind translating that the next time before you post? Remember, it's called 'English Forum' here for a reason. ;-) Thanks!

I came across interesting web site for world languages and here is a description of "Schwyzerdütsch" and its usage:
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=gsw

I thought there were a few inaccuracies in what they were saying, but this one is particularly worthy of note:
I don't believe that in 1990 two thirds of German speakers only spoke SG and had no HG. Anyone know any better .